Answering the phone
The office phone is the hardest part of this job and the most scripted, which is a good combination: it can be prepared almost completely.
The opening is fixed, and moshi moshi is not used in business calls. You give the company name and your own, then take theirs.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| お電話ありがとうございます。株式会社サンプルの田中でございます。 | Odenwa arigatō gozaimasu. Kabushiki-gaisha Sanpuru no Tanaka de gozaimasu. | Thank you for calling. This is Tanaka of Sample Ltd. |
| いつもお世話になっております。 | Itsumo osewa ni natte orimasu. | Thank you for your continued support. |
| 恐れ入りますが、お名前を伺えますか。 | Osoreirimasu ga, onamae o ukagaemasu ka. | May I ask your name? |
| 少々お待ちくださいませ。 | Shōshō omachi kudasaimase. | Please hold for a moment. |
| おつなぎいたします。 | Otsunagi itashimasu. | I will put you through. |
| お電話が遠いようです。 | Odenwa ga tōi yō desu. | The line seems faint. |
Taking a message
Taking a message is where errors are costly, and the discipline is to confirm everything back: name, company, number and the substance.
Confirming a phone number digit by digit is standard practice, and the safer readings for four and seven exist precisely for this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| あいにく田中は席を外しております。 | Ainiku Tanaka wa seki o hazushite orimasu. | Unfortunately Tanaka is away from his desk. |
| 折り返しお電話いたしましょうか。 | Orikaeshi odenwa itashimashō ka. | Shall we call you back? |
| ご伝言を承ります。 | Godengon o uketamawarimasu. | I will take a message. |
| お電話番号を確認させていただきます。 | Odenwa bangō o kakunin sasete itadakimasu. | Let me confirm your phone number. |
| 復唱いたします。 | Fukushō itashimasu. | I will repeat that back. |
| 田中に申し伝えます。 | Tanaka ni mōshitsutaemasu. | I will pass it on to Tanaka. |
Notice that your own colleague is referred to without an honorific when speaking to an outside caller. This is the point learners most often get wrong.
The register that shifts
The single conceptual difficulty of this job is that the register depends on who is on the other end rather than on what you are doing. The same person is referred to differently depending on who you are speaking to.
Getting the direction of humility right matters more than getting every form perfect, and it is the thing that marks out someone who understands the convention.
| Speaking to | Your manager is | Their manager is |
|---|---|---|
| A client | 田中 | 田中様 |
| A colleague | 田中部長 | Their title |
| Your manager | Honorific forms | Not applicable |
| A supplier | 田中 | Honorific |
| Another department | 田中部長 | Their title |
The first row is the one to internalise. Adding an honorific to your own manager's name in front of a client is immediately audible as an error.
Internal requests
Requests within the office are polite but lighter, and they are constant: asking for a document, chasing an approval, checking a deadline. The register is polite without full keigo.
Chasing is a normal part of the role and has conventional softeners that make it unremarkable.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| お忙しいところ、すみません。 | Oisogashii tokoro, sumimasen. | Sorry to disturb you when you are busy. |
| こちらの書類、ご確認いただけますか。 | Kochira no shorui, gokakunin itadakemasu ka. | Could you check this document? |
| 先日の件、いかがでしょうか。 | Senjitsu no ken, ikaga deshō ka. | How is the matter from the other day going? |
| 締め切りが明日となっております。 | Shimekiri ga asu to natte orimasu. | The deadline is tomorrow. |
| ご都合のよいときで結構です。 | Gotsugō no yoi toki de kekkō desu. | Whenever is convenient is fine. |
| 念のため、確認させてください。 | Nen no tame, kakunin sasete kudasai. | Let me confirm just in case. |
Visitors
Reception exchanges are short, fixed and frequent. Greet, confirm who they are here to see, seat them, and inform the person.
Offering tea is conventional in many offices and is part of the script rather than an initiative.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| いらっしゃいませ。 | Irasshaimase. | Welcome. |
| お約束はございますか。 | Oyakusoku wa gozaimasu ka. | Do you have an appointment? |
| ただいま担当者を呼んでまいります。 | Tadaima tantōsha o yonde mairimasu. | I will fetch the person now. |
| こちらでお掛けになってお待ちください。 | Kochira de okake ni natte omachi kudasai. | Please take a seat here and wait. |
| お茶をお持ちいたします。 | Ocha o omochi itashimasu. | I will bring you some tea. |
| お待たせいたしました。 | Omatase itashimashita. | Thank you for waiting. |
Drilling the phone
Of everything in this job, the phone is what to practise, for three reasons: it is the hardest medium, it is the most scripted content, and it is the thing new administrative staff most dread.
Because it is scripted, it drills well. Running the call script with an AI Sensei in Unihongo's immersive 3D classroom, spoken rather than typed, gets the opening and the message-taking to the speed a real call needs, and the pronunciation lab is worth using on the numbers, since a phone line degrades exactly the length distinctions that separate four from seven.
The middle of a call is not scripted, and that is what a roleplay adds: a caller who says something you did not anticipate, at which point the confirming phrases have to arrive without composition.
Learn the opening and the message-taking to complete automaticity. Between them they cover most calls, and confidence on the phone changes the whole job.